Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 27 November 2019
27 Nov 2019 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Mental Health
Neil Findlay is very much in touch with what is happening. He understands the pressures that our police officers are under, which is exactly what I am about to come on to.
Police officers are not the only ones who are going to work despite being mentally unwell. That is happening around the country in the public and private sectors. What choice do people have when they can wait up to two years to get the treatment that they need? It is tough and there is a serious cost, because waiting an age for help causes people’s health to deteriorate further.
Colleagues in England are rightly complaining about adults waiting for up to 176 days for psychological therapy, which is obviously not acceptable. I do not wish such a wait on anyone, but that is well short of what is being experienced here in Scotland. I long for the day when people can be treated within 176 days, because adults in this country, under this Government, are waiting for 700 days.
The 2017 mental health strategy was supposed to bring all that to an end. Scotland is so far behind that it is frightening, which is why we want a transformation in Scotland’s mental health services.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh)
NPA
The next item of business is a Scottish Liberal Democrat debate on motion S5M-03438, in the name of Willie Rennie, on mental health. 14:39
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
What I am about to tell the chamber is quite shocking; it should shake the Government to the core. I am disappointed that Humza Yousaf, the Cabinet Secretary...
Keith Brown (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
SNP
On the subject of being ashamed, is Willie Rennie ashamed that the last time that the Liberal Democrats were in power, they oversaw huge budget cuts to menta...
Willie Rennie
LD
Police officers across the country will be listening to the deputy leader of the Scottish National Party. They will be furious that he has ignored every word...
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Will Willie Rennie give way?
Willie Rennie
LD
I will in a second. Only 3 per cent of officers think that Police Scotland cares, and 35 per cent turn up for work mentally unwell. The Government should be...
Neil Findlay
Lab
When they turn up at work, those very same officers have to deal with increasing numbers of mental health cases in their duties every day. The officers I was...
Willie Rennie
LD
Neil Findlay is very much in touch with what is happening. He understands the pressures that our police officers are under, which is exactly what I am about ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeane Freeman)
SNP
Will Willie Rennie take an intervention?
Willie Rennie
LD
I will in a second. I have spoken before about how the strategy was 15 months late, which delayed critical investment. Today, I want to talk about progress ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Will Willie Rennie give way?
Willie Rennie
LD
In a second. A third of the staff hired so far have been diverted to those “other settings”. The Scottish Association for Mental Health wants clarification ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Notwithstanding Willie Rennie’s point about psychological therapies, which I do not dismiss, eight out of 10 patients are seen within the 18-week period that...
Willie Rennie
LD
That is fine, but it is not what the Government promised. The Government promised that the personnel would go to “A&E departments, GP practices, police...
The Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing (Joe FitzPatrick)
SNP
Mental health is a priority for the Government. It is not a short-term priority and it is not a here today, gone tomorrow political issue. Instead, mental he...
Neil Findlay
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention on that point?
Joe FitzPatrick
SNP
I would like to make a little progress first, and then I will see whether I have time. The Government is taking a long-term, wide-ranging approach to mental...
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I notice that the Government’s amendment attempts to delete the word “crisis” from the Liberal Democrats’ motion. Recently, the Royal College of Psychiatrist...
Joe FitzPatrick
SNP
Through the policies that it is putting in place, the Scottish Government is making stringent efforts to improve the situation. There is a huge contrast betw...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
Will the member take an intervention?
Joe FitzPatrick
SNP
I will cover some of the points that Mr Rennie made earlier. As of October, more than 320 full-time equivalent mental health workers have been recruited and...
Willie Rennie
LD
Will the member take an intervention?
Joe FitzPatrick
SNP
Time is tight and I want to cover one of the main areas that Willie Rennie covered. Through a strong collaborative approach across different services, the p...
Annie Wells (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
I thank the Liberal Democrats for bringing this important debate to the chamber. No one in the chamber can deny the growing recognition in Scotland of the ne...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Does Ms Wells accept that, as we are halfway through the period, having half the number of community link workers that was committed to is a reasonable posit...
Annie Wells
Con
We have one year left in which to recruit. We have seen the number move at such a slow pace. I just want to make sure that the targets are met, so I am looki...
Mary Fee (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the Liberal Democrats for lodging today’s motion on mental health. I associate myself with what has been said about the frankly shocking statistics o...
Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Mary Fee
Lab
I would like to make some progress, please. Despite the higher profile of mental health, it is still not discussed as much as, and treated on a par with, ph...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Mary Fee knows that I share her commitment to the quality of work that is done with offenders. Does she accept that the approach has to be collaborative? If ...